The Fourth Season of On Pettaquamscutt: Presentations on the Environment and the History of the Narrow River Watershed, the winter speaker series sponsored by NRPA, Friends of Canonchet Farm, South County Museum, the Maury Loontjens Memorial Library and Trio Restaurant.
January 25: Numi Mitchell, “Coyotes in Your Back Yard”
Coyotes, originally a prairie species, have colonized the Continental U.S. over the last 100 years, and in the mid-1990s even took up residence on the islands in Narragansett Bay. Numi Mitchell, lead scientist in the Narragansett Bay Coyote Study, described the most successful practices for managing coyote herds.
February 22: Colin Porter, “King Philip’s War at Home: Another Look at the Jireh Bull Garrison House”
“A few rods from this spot stood the Stone House of Jireh Bull Burned by the Indians December 15, 1675,” so reads the stone marker on Middlebridge Road commemorating a preemptive strike by the Narragansetts to prevent Bull’s fortification from being used by Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay militia assembling to attack the tribe. On February 22, 2015 anthropologist Colin Porter told the story behind the stone and what Jireh Bull’s Garrison House meant to Native Americans and Europeans struggling to coexist in the Narragansett Country.
March 29: Wenley Ferguson, “Salt Marsh Restoration in Narrow River”
Wenley Ferguson, shown here during one of her many visits to the salt marsh just below Middlebridge on the east side of the river, was be the final presenter in the 2015 series. Wenley, who is Director of Habitat Restoration at Save the Bay, will discuss Save the Bay’s efforts to assess threats to salt marsh health and to restore healthy, functioning marshes.
